We must identify, support, advance, retain and reward our young talent

COMMENT: While I have always known and been proud of the depth of young talent in our business, I have been reminded of this through Manreet Randhawa’s participation in Future Female Leaders. We must identify, support, advance, retain and reward our young talent. In my role as chief executive, I see one of the most important challenges is to make sure we have a path for our brightest talent to ensure an upward trajectory. The path to leadership and success must be made clear to our junior staff. The whole Nuveen Real Estate team is extremely proud of Manreet for her outstanding talk and enthusiastic participation in the programme. She showed a willingness to learn, courage and a personal commitment and desire to better herself and the industry as a whole. Manreet was originally chosen by a panel of her colleagues and peers because we saw tremendous potential in her and believed that she would make the most of this opportunity; anyone who saw her speech will enthusiastically agree that she has. Manreet has always embraced our values, but at the FFL event she demonstrated them by delivering excellence. By participating in this programme, the whole of Nuveen has benefited from what Manreet has learnt and passed on to us. What also became evident from speaking to Manreet about her experience was how important it is to nurture confidence in women within our businesses and the wider industry. There is a willingness and ambition to lead, but there can be a lack of confidence and reluctance to put oneself forward. Anyone watching Manreet on stage would never believe that she ever had a problem with confidence, but a roomful of 400 people would be daunting for anyone and I know it took a lot of courage for her to speak. Training programmes such as EG’s FFL are essential for building the confidence of potential leaders. At Nuveen we have introduced several new training programs in addition to our Leadership, Education, Advocacy and Development group. Additional schemes include mentoring, the Junior Board, and the office exchange programme, all with the aim of giving young people in our organisation the support they need to grow their confidence and harness their leadership potential. When I spoke to Manreet about her experience, she said that connecting with other talented women in the industry was one of the best things about the programme. It taught her the importance of having a strong support system in your career. Studies have shown that along with confidence, built through adequate and frequent training and mentorship, connection is one of the biggest contributing factors to women taking leadership roles. We need to connect junior-level employees with each other as well as senior leaders, mentors and sponsors. In addition, I believe we need to highlight senior female leaders within our organisations. Manreet sites her line manager, Ainslie McLennan, and her team, the Janus Henderson UK Property PAIF, as her strongest backers throughout her FFL training, initially encouraging her to apply and mentoring her throughout. Wouldn’t it be great if all the junior women in our businesses had someone like Ainslie? From the packed room I saw at Kings Place, I think this is an achievable goal. When I ask Manreet what she would like to see changed in our industry she said increased gender diversity across all sectors and the disappearance of the gender pay gap and pension gap. I wholeheartedly agree with her and would go one step further and say I would like to see greater diversity and inclusion embraced by our industry. Through our parent company Nuveen, we have a history dating back five decades of focusing on ESG factors, innovation and investing in companies with diverse boards and employees. Nuveen is dedicated to creating better outcomes for our investors and the planet while seeking to change the face of the industry. Mike Sales is chief executive, Nuveen Real Assets and Real Estate